Having spent the last couple of riding days on the flat, and by that I mean it was only the bridges and overpasses that had counted as climbs, today was to be our biggest climbing day for the entire tour.
It started out well enough as far as the scenery and weather is concerned, however I was to ride the day without my Garmin and hence was to have no idea as to how much distance I had covered / was to ride at any given stage on the ride. Nor did I have any idea as to what my heart rate was doing or anything. The reason for this little mishap, I had charged the phone in the support vehicle had picked it up and popped into my jean's pocket which I promptly forgot about when I packed my bags later in the evening. A consistent routine is crucial, in terms of where things are put, in which order and so on. A little oops but with a rather unfortunate outcome.
In amongst the climbs were a number of tunnels, many of them probably having been dug out years and years ago, with very dim lighting, water constantly dripping from the roof and cobblestones on the floor just to make things even more interesting. The picture below is of Helen, entering a tunnel which was to go for three kilometres in length.You wouldn't want to be afraid of the dark....
By the same token, when you did come out into the daylight, you'd come across scenes as below.
Anyone would think that we were in Switzerland or Austria, given the design of the buildings and churches, rather than Italy.
By the same token, it would seem that if one was to take a wrong turn on a couple of the roads we were climbing today, one could well end up in Austria fairly quickly.
There's no more photos taken, from lunchtime onwards as the heavens began to open and the climbs all that much steeper. All I will say is that it was bloody cold, wet & miserable, to the point in fact that had I seen our support truck on the final climb (as opposed to at the top) I suspect I might well have called it quits even though I'd have only been 20KM from home.
Fortunately, I didn't and trudged very slowly up the hill, before rolling down the other side at a great rate of knots, despite the treacherous conditions just eager to end the day as soon as possible.
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